The Bharat Rashtra Samithi’s (BRS) massive public meeting at Khammam, Telangana, on Wednesday has received flak from the Congress and the BJP, which have claimed it was “a failed public meeting”. The meeting was held to unveil the BRS’s national plans and to signal its intention to play a role in the attempts to cobble together a pan-India front against the BJP.
Laying into the party led by K Chandrasekhar Rao, popularly known as KCR, both the Congress and the BJP sought to know “how much was spent to organise the meeting” attended by Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal, Kerala CM Pinarayi Vijayan, Punjab CM Bhagwant Singh Mann, former Uttar Pradesh CM Akhilesh Yadav, and CPI national general secretary D Raja. They raised questions about the “choppers” used to fly the leaders to the venue and asked how “over one lakh people were mobilised from various districts”.
State BJP chief Bandi Sanjay Kumar said Janata Dal (Secular) leader and former Karnataka Chief Minister HD Kumaraswamy, Bihar CM Nitish Kumar, and Tamil Nadu CM M K Stalin were “wise” to stay away from the event.
Telangana Congress leader and former minister Mohammed Ali Shabbir alleged that KCR had misused “crores” of public funds to organise the meeting. “Instead of spending the entire amount from the party funds, KCR linked two government events with his public meeting to misuse the public money. CMs of Delhi, Punjab and Kerala visited Telangana only to attend the BRS meeting. But KCR invited them for the inauguration of Khammam Integrated Collectorate and the launch of the second phase of Kanti Velugu (state-sponsored mass eye screening programme). By doing so, he transferred all the expenditure on their visit to the public exchequer,’’ said Shabbir.
Shabbir said the Congress “would prepare a detailed report on the misuse of public money for the BRS meeting and submit a memorandum to Governor Dr Tamilisai Soundararajan seeking a high-level probe”.
He added, “The KCR government did not fulfil any of the promises he made to the people of Telangana. Now he is making promises to the people of India. As a CM, KCR is a total failure. Now he is dreaming of becoming the Prime Minister. KCR has realised that the people of Telangana will not praise him. Therefore, he is importing people from other states to praise him. Telangana is not a model state in any sector.”
Kumar alleged that “BRS leaders desperately made a futile attempt to mobilise crowds by paying them money, intimidated many others, and were showing it as a grand success”. He said, “KCR managed to bring the so-called national leaders by paying them money looted through the (Delhi) liquor scam. Who funded the public meeting? Where did all that money come from? No leader who comes to KCR once will not like to entertain him again. Kumaraswamy has not come to see him again. So did Nitish Kumar. Those who attended the Khammam meeting will not be visible.”
Describing the BRS meeting as “a flop show”, the state BJP chief went on to say, “BRS leaders claim to have an attendance of more than five lakh people, but not even one lakh people participated in the meeting. Having ruled Telangana with both arrogance and ignorance for the last nine years, KCR is now enacting new dramas. BRS meeting in Khammam was the first scene in a long film KCR proposes to divert people’s attention from his failures. The BRS public meeting reminds one of an utter flop show of the pre-release function of a film.”
Kumar lashed out at KCR about the statements on the Agnipath scheme that he made in his speech in Khammam. “Agnipath scheme for armed forces recruitment was the brainchild of late Army chief Bipin Rawat. Does KCR think he knows more than Rawat? Forget about Agnipath. Let KCR take up recruitment of police forces in Telangana. Because of its silly conditions, candidates are resorting to agitations and those who questioned him are being lathicharged.”
Alleging that “KCR used to refer to countries like Sri Lanka, Bangladesh and Pakistan in terms of hunger index in an attempt to degrade India and criticise PM Narendra Modi”, Kumar said, “Now, he is not taking their names, because these countries are now begging for money and food. He later started talking about China with regard to development and now it is struggling to overcome the Coronavirus pandemic.”
He said, “It clearly shows that KCR’s words turn out to be a bad omen for any country that he says is progressing. I request him not to say any good words about India because his words become a curse for the country.”
The BJP leader said that “nobody had spoken about the Ab Ki Baar Kisan Sarkar (This time around, a farmers’ government) slogan coined by the BRS”. He added, “While KCR said the BRS would come to power at the Centre, Kejriwal said the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) would come to power. It is unfortunate that the Telangana chief minister did not even raise the ‘Jai Telangana’ slogan at the Khammam meeting.”
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